Alkoholidesinfitseerimine

Alkoholidesinfitseerimine is a processing technique in which alcohol serves as the infiltrating agent to replace liquids within a porous substrate or specimen. The term is used especially in histology, material science, and chemical processing to describe the introduction of alcohol into a material to facilitate subsequent steps such as dehydration, clearing, or embedding.

In histology and pathology, alcohol infiltration is part of the specimen preparation workflow. Fixed tissue is gradually dehydrated by a series of increasing ethanol concentrations, typically from 50% to 70%, 95%, and 100%. This replaces water within the tissue. At high ethanol content, the sample can be infiltrated with embedding media such as paraffin or resins. Ethanol may also act as a clearing-compatible solvent when combined with organic clearing agents, enabling paraffin infiltration.

In materials science, alcohol infiltration is used to introduce ethanol-soluble additives or to modify pore water content in porous solids. It can aid in imaging, impregnation with resins, or surface modification, depending on the target material and subsequent processing steps.

Safety and handling involve limiting flammability hazards, ensuring proper ventilation, and using personal protective equipment. Environmental considerations include proper disposal of spent solvents.

See also: infiltration, dehydration, histological processing, resin embedding.